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Gait evaluation of a transfemoral prosthetic simulator
E D Lemaire1, D Nielen, M A Paquin
1Institute for Rehabilitation Research and Development, The Rehabilitation Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Objective:
To test a prosthetic simulator developed to allow persons without amputation to walk like a person with a transfemoral (TF) amputation.
Patients:
Five able-bodied subjects; comparison with data from the literature on persons with TF amputations.
Setting:
Motion analysis laboratory.
Design:
Two 45- to 60-minute gait training sessions before subjects walked along a 10-meter walkway. There were 6 trials: 3 walking with a cane, 3 without a cane. MAIN OBJECTIVE MEASURES: Sagittal plane kinematic and kinetic analysis of ankle, knee, and hip: angular velocity, joint moment, and power.
Results:
Kinematic and kinetic analyses showed that joint mechanics during walking were similar between the test subjects and comparative results from persons with TF amputations (reported in the literature). Test subjects walked slower and moved their hip and knee joints faster (higher angular velocity values during the terminal swing) than the TF amputee subjects, although these results were not statistically significant (p < .05). These findings were consistent with new prosthetic users who are more tentative during gait training. However, a perfect simulation would show no difference in kinematic results.
Conclusion:
These results support the use of a TF prosthetic simulator to help health care professionals experience the process of fitting the prosthesis from the client's perspective.